


Trusting

by Lt_Cmdr_Scribbler



Category: Star Wars Legends: The Old Republic
Genre: Developing Relationship, Dialogue Light, F/M, Family Issues, First Gen Zhang Family has Issues, First Person, Kinda, Martial Arts, Zenith POV, fighting as flirting
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-12-13
Updated: 2016-12-13
Packaged: 2018-09-08 06:10:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 931
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8833417
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lt_Cmdr_Scribbler/pseuds/Lt_Cmdr_Scribbler
Summary: Zenith, and that strange Jedi he's attached himself to.Za'leila, and the intriguing sniper that she's not supposed to get attached to.





	

**Author's Note:**

> My first attempt at getting in Zenith's head. I needed to flesh out his and Za'leila's relationship more, and so this is what that is. This might become my Zenleila drabble dump, so I'll mark it 'uncompleted' for now.

You looked so similar to her, the Sith that came through a year before you did. The way you both held yourselves, like snakes ready to strike. The way your lekku swished as you walked away, one hand carefully resting on the lightsaber at your side. Your lightsaber, in fact, was what made me realise that you were you, and not her. Her lightsaber was dark, single-bladed, held behind her as she casted nature to her will. Yours was bright and held defensively, blades of yellow light casting shadows on both sides of your face.

But your eyes widened the same way hers had, so I was curt, cautious, and withdrawn. You reached for me like she did too, from afar, with your eyes, eyes that were different and yet the same. But your reach was warm, and filled with worry, where hers was full of pain and knives ready to lash out. So I began to slip, making remarks where I shouldn’t have, just to see if you’d laugh, and started trying to protect you the way I would any soldier under my command, while I was very clearly under yours.

I hadn't planned to come away with you the way I had. Tai’s calculated way of distancing me from Balmorra was irritating, but only for a moment, because then you grinned, wider than I'd expected, with genuine warmth that I didn't think Jedi were capable of. You welcomed me into your ship with your smile and an amount of privacy I was grateful for. I pretended to dislike your smile, and took the privacy with grumbled thanks.

I already knew that you were a ferocious fighter, and it registered that some amount of practice must go into that talent. But the sight of you, sweat-drenched and clad only in a sleeveless shirt and shorts, spinning around blades glowing yellow like the sun around the cargo bay, was still a shock. The grim determination on your face and the ice-cold ferocity in your blue eyes was so removed from the quietly powerful, gracefully gentle form that floated around the ship like a ghost that I nearly thought that The Sith was back, somehow impersonating you. But you froze, and slowly melted out of your combat form, and smiled demurely and casually said that you hadn't heard me come in.

“I didn't know you could fight like that.”

“The day at the Imp base didn't show you?”

Your voice wasn't some flowing, mystical sound that I had expected. You could be gruff, and the usual army slang left your lips like it belonged there, like you were used to life harder than the cushioned pilot’s chair on the bridge.

You smirked, and I could've sworn I was imagining a purple glow in your blue eyes. “Spar with me.” It wasn't a question.

You weren't subtle when you watched me take off my jacket and boots, but I didn't know how to react to that, so I didn't. The smooth metal floor was cold beneath my bare feet, so I assumed that was the cause of the shiver that ran up my spine.

I was surprised when you attacked first, but then I inwardly rolled my eyes. Didn't you know I'd been fighting as the underdog for so long that the defensive was practically my home territory? Rolling out of your way, I pressed a hand to your shoulder blade, locking onto your wrist and pulling back. You took a straining step forward, bent your knees, and all of a sudden you were sailing through the air, grinning over my head, my arm being wrenched backward from my hold on your wrist. You tried to slip away, and when I loosened my grip for barely a moment, you darted away, just out of my reach.

I lunged after you, but you dropped down low, tripping me up. We grappled for several moments, arms and legs tangled in some convoluted knot, before you pushed yourself off the ground and rolled us both, slamming my back on the ground and the air out of my lungs. You had me pinned, and one of your lekku was inches from my hand. I grabbed it, yanking with the amount of force that I knew wouldn't injure you, only unbalance you for a few minutes. Then our positions were reversed, my hands pinning your shoulders to the floor and your midsection between my knees.

We were both panting hard for a moment, and you grinned up at me. “Good,” you said, breathless, and you tapped the floor twice.

You never told me what you meant by that, but you wanted me at your back for every mission afterward. I took a small amount of pride in that, but I thought you trusted too easily. Even though I had proved my hatred of the Empire countless times, _I_ certainly wouldn't have trusted myself if I were you. I was- am -the opposite of nearly every Jedi value.

Either you didn't think so, or you didn't mind.

The lieutenant made you uncomfortable. No one else exactly noticed, but I knew. Growing up in a family of Twi’leks must've had at least one advantage, because I was able to read you with ease. Whenever Iresso spoke, your tip of your left lekku twitched. Whenever he looked at you, you turned so that you didn't make eye contact. Usually, you turned to me, and I… didn't exactly mind.

You, Za’leila Zhang, were the first person I'd considered trusting- really trusting, with my ideas _and_ my affections -in a very long time.


End file.
